If you have been a speech therapist for more than a month, chances are that you would have encountered a child with difficulty producing the R sound. The difficulty in the R sound lies in the fact that it requires very precise tongue control. This however, is something that does not come easily to some children.
Why is the R Sound So Difficult?
Another difficulty in teaching lies in the fact that there are so many different types of R sounds. Beyond the R at the initial position of words, there are also seven other types of Rs that come after a vowel, (AR, IRE, EAR, OUR, ER, AIR, OR).
To top it off, there are two different ways to produce the R sound: The Bunched R and the Retroflex R.
Therefore, the best way to ensure success is to see which R placement the child is approximating before working on helping them achieve the one they are closest to.
What’s Happening When We Make the R Sound?
To understand the myriad of processes that have to happen when making the R sound, try saying “Row” and hold it there.
Notice that your lips are rounded in an ‘O’ shape. Next focus on the back of your throat. You’ll likely find that the back part of your throat is constricted. Lastly, shift your focus to your tongue. Probably, you will find that the middle of your tongue is curled up towards the roof of your mouth like a hump.
How to teach the R sound
So how can we cue the R sound? I have listed various strategies under each type of cues. Basically verbal cues are the least intrusive while tactile cues requires the most physical manipulation.
When I start teaching the R sound, I usually start from the verbal cues, and move up the hierarchy depending on how the child does.
Verbal Cues for the R sound
Verbal cues are the least intrusive way of cueing the sound since it does not require any physical manipulation on your part. Here are a few strategies that I have found helpful:
Try telling the child to produce the mean dog sound. You can model it by saying “rrrrr” as if you are a growling dog while keeping their lips wide.
Another verbal cue you can try is to have the child say “eeeee” first. Then ask him to curl up his tongue and slide it back by 2-3 teeth. This results in the middle of his tongue touching the roof of his mouth. When this happens, the sound should change to “errrr”.
For children who tends to substitute W for their R (e.g. wabbit for rabbit), I would get them to hold their smile while saying the R word e.g. rabbit.
Visual Cues for the R sound
Because of the top front teeth, it is difficult to see the position of the tongue when doing the R sound. As such, one good way is to provide a visual cue by using the Jumbo Mighty Mouth from Super Duper Inc. I often label the various parts using the model, and demonstrate the position that the tongue should be in when producing the R sound.
If that doesn’t work, I might draw the image of a train and train tracks. I then try to get the child to visualise the upper teeth as train tracks and his tongue as the train. Next, I tell the child that the wheels of the train (the sides of the tongue) needs to go on the train track so that it can go smoothly without over-turning (just like his speech).
Tactile Cues for the R sound
These set of cues are reserved for children where the less invasive cues have not work.
I love Pamela Marshalla’s book “Successful R Therapy: Fixing the hardest sound in the world”. It is extremely detailed and has many useful tips for teaching the R sound. I have listed some of them below:
Using a dental floss pick, I’d get the child to hook his tongue around the floss. This naturally gets his tongue in the retroflex R position. Then I’ll get the child to say “errr”, which most of them can do so successfully.
Another way I might do this is to get the child to hold L sound. Then, using a tongue depressor, I’d push his tongue tip backwards. This bunches up his tongue in the middle of his mouth. When this happens, the L sound will start to sound like R.
When the child manages to produce the sound independently without any cues, I quickly move to helping him to words. This ensures that he does not remain stuck at the phoneme level. At this point, I will also send home exercises for parents to work with their child. Using a combination of these strategies, I have successfully treated many children with R difficulties.
Conclusion
The R sound might be challenging, but that’s what makes our lives as speech therapists so fun and exciting isn’t it?
Do you have other strategies to share about working on the R sound? Share them below!
Check out tips to work on other speech sounds as well
How to teach the L Sound
How to teach the S Sound
How to teach the Th Sound
